Sweet Dreams
by Mockingbird917
Summary: Kagome must risk her life trying to save Inuyasha after he is sealed for the second time.
1. On the run

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

Kagome leaned back against the hut's rough wooden walls. A feeling of relief and security rushed through her just as exhaustion seemed to drain any probability of further movement. Thin rays of the sun's early dawn light slipped through the cracks in the walls, illuminating Inuyasha's strangely still face.

The hanyou's breath came in slow shallow breaths as though he were in a very deep sleep. The young girl stared at him for a few moments, too tired to feel anything but numb about the events of the previous day. Then in a sudden rush, a thick gloom settled over her. _Kaede will be able to wake him_, she thought with fierce desperation. _And if she can't, if he never wakes up? _a quiet voice whispered in the back of her mind.

Yesterday morning everything had seemed so normal. Shippo and Inuyasha had gotten into an argument about the usefulness of Kagome's bicycle while Sango fended off Miroku's wandering hands. Kagome had kept her chuckles silent as she attempted to keep peace among her motley band of friends.

She drifted slightly between sleep and consciousness for a long time, still too anxious to truly let her guard down. Last night had been one of the most difficult things she had ever had to endure. After Inuyasha had been sealed for the second time, Kagome had ran, carrying his unconscious body awkwardly on her back as Sango, Miroku, and Kirara had fought to give them time to escape.

Kagome knew enough of tracking to know that she had probably left a trail despite all the care she had taken. Running through water where ever she could, she had hoped it would be too fragmented for any pursuers. Once again, Naraku had pulled off a stunt that none of them would ever have expected.

The throb of hatred that Kagome felt anytime she thought of the twisted former man beat dully in her ears as she felt a few tears run unhindered down her cheek. He had cause so much pain. Inuyasha had lost Kikyo, Miroku had lost his father and soon his own life, and Sango had lost everything just so that Naraku could manipulate her.

With the anger rising in her, Kagome suddenly felt energy return to her sore limbs. He would not take Inuyasha away from them, from her. She would not let it happen. She stood and with a small grunt, hefted the limp hanyou on to her back. Kagome adjusted his weight before slipping out the small door of the hut.

She breathed a small prayer of thanks before returning to the refuge of the forest to whoever owned the hut that had sheltered them for most of the day. Kagome had quickly become very thankful of the woodsman's skills she had acquired during her sojourns through feudal Japan. Not so long ago, she would have been dead lost trying to get back to Kaede's village with an emphasis on dead.

Kagome was able to move with relative ease with Inuyasha on her back for a short while, but after a mile or two, her back began ache and her movements became clumsy. The sword Sango had lent her banged uncomfortably against her leg. She couldn't help thinking with a small rueful smile_, I shall have to thank Inuyasha for all the times he has carried me on his back when he wakes up._

After almost three miles, Kagome was panting form exertion and completely soaked through from staggering down a shallow creek. Some of Inuyasha's silver hair had slipped over her shoulder and was tickling her neck and she could not free her hand to take care of the aggravating strand.

A few minutes of walking like this, Kagome suddenly dropped the limp hanyou on the bank with an aggravated snort. "Damn it, Inuyasha, even when you're unconscious, you are the most annoying person on this planet!" she yelled. As her angry voice echoed around the otherwise quiet forest, Kagome stood panting and glaring at his still form before she dropped down on the bank next to him.

Her face disappeared into her hands as her ragged breaths became sobs and Kagome fought for breath. Suddenly everything seemed so oppressive and she had no one to turn to for help or assurance. Slowly, Kagome forced herself to breathe evenly and deeply. That was why she _had_ to be in control; there was no one else to do it. Inuyasha needed her to be strong and self reliant now, and she would not let him down.

With a glance at him, Kagome felt her lips twitch in a sad smile. She reached over and straightened his haori and tucked his long hair out of his face. The peaceful look on his face reminded her sharply of the first time she had seen him, pinned to a tree by Kikyo's arrow.

She was suddenly torn out of her thoughts by sounds of movement along bank opposite them. Jumping to her feet, Kagome quickly drew Sango's sword and held it awkwardly in front of her. It was heavier than she expected and to even hope to swing it with any sort of accuracy, Kagome had to hold it with both hands.

There was another rustle and then, from the undergrowth, a small bluish green, reptilian youkai emerged, baring its teeth and hissing menacing. _That's what I get for yelling_, she thought with a frown. It was probably only a foot high and half as wide, but Kagome knew better than to judge it solely on its size. Small youkai could be extremely poisonous or unusually fast.

__

I doubt I'll even be able to hit the thing, she thought desperately. Without warning the reptile like youkai leapt towards her face. Moving on instinct and panic alone, Kagome swung the sword in a clumsy arc. While she did miss, the youkai was forced to veer away and it landed neatly on Inuyasha's chest.

It took the frazzled girl a moment to register where the youkai was now hissing. With a yelp of surprise, she rushed forward and kicked the youkai this time. Using the sword, she felt she was more likely to lope off one of the hanyou's ears. The youkai apparently had not expected that as its eyes had remained on the sword and Kagome felt her foot connect.

Without her previous hesitation, Kagome rushed forward stabbing and hacking wildly at where the tiny beast had fallen. She realized she had closed her eyes for this and quickly opened them, feeling more than a little sheepish. _Oi, Kagome! You're aim is bad enough with your eyes open!_ she could practically hear Inuyasha scoff.

However, when she finally did look down, the tiny youkai was quivering slightly, lying on its side with dark blood seeping from two wounds. With a gulp, Kagome stabbed down quickly into the thick vein of the creature's neck. Her stomach lurched in disgust, but she knew it was kinder to have just killed the thing and put it out of its misery.

She stood still for a moment looking at the thing's pitiful corpse before turning away again. She disliked killing anything, but she would have to protect Inuyasha for once. She cleaned the blade of the sword on the mossy bank before sliding it back into its sheath.

__

We have lingered here too long, she thought as she again swung Inuyasha onto her back and gripped his legs with her hands. With a sigh and a lonely feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kagome continued her trek down stream toward Kaede's village.

A/N: Ok, I know the first chapter is pretty dull and you probably don't have a real clear idea of what's going on but never fear. All that shall be remedied in the second chapter. To avoid confusion and making myself look bad, I have decided not to put the different endings on people's names like –chan. I would probably get confused and if you've only seen the dubs, it might be confusing. Also I've only seen through the second season and a few random episodes on CN so it's quite possible and very probable that I'll get something wrong. If I do, please tell me. It makes my day to get a review with some sort of content. (It makes my day to get any kind of review at all though.)


	2. On the look out

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters. Suing would be pointless anyway as I'm so broke, I can't afford working speakers for my computer.

Wow, for some reason the italics didn't work for this chapters causing some mass confusion (and by mass, I mean probably the three people who bothered to look at this mess.)  I'm going to use little ~*~*~*~ to offset the flashbacks.  Sorry. 

From her seat on Kirara's back, Sango's eyes swept over the forest below them. Miroku sat behind her, his hands for once remaining buried in the cat youkai's thick fur as he too scanned the scenery below. Sango did not know whether to be reassured or worried that they saw no trace of Kagome and Inuyasha. She shuddered unexpectedly as yesterday's events came back to her.

~*~*~*~

Kagome stopped suddenly in the path. It was midmorning and the group had been walking in companionable silence since dawn. Sango stopped too, surprised by her friend's sudden action. Kagome's eyes had gone wide just as she looked up at Sango. The youkai exterminator saw fear written all over the younger woman's face.

"Shikon shards," she said very quietly as her head snapped around to where Inuyasha had just stopped to look back at them. There was a sudden crash from overhead at the exact moment Kagome yelled, "It's Naraku!"

Sango moved mostly on instinct as she grabbed Kagome around the waist and pulled the two of them back away from the main force of the blast. She saw Inuyasha do the same with Shippo, and Miroku stumbled less gracefully out of the way as dark swirls of Naraku's magic swirled over head.

At her side, Kagome was already notching her arrow and taking aim at something within the dark swirls of magic. Although Sango could see nothing to aim at, she was sure Kagome could sense the location of the Shikon shards well enough to aim for them.

The younger woman loosed the arrow quickly and with a white flash it, cut through the Naraku's dark magic. Kagome, however, was no longer watching the path of her arrow, but had turned her head upward. Sango followed her gaze just in time to see a figure wrapped in a white baboon pelt descending towards them.

~*~*~*~

Sango shuddered as she thought of how close his attack had come to slicing the two of them in half. It was only thanks to Inuyasha's extreme speed that they had been saved.

"Are you ok?" Miroku asked from behind her. He could not see the youkai exterminator's face, but he was sure she must look as bad as he felt. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the previous night and after an intense battle with Naraku and his youkai, he felt pretty numb.

"I wish we could find some trace of them," she said softly.

Miroku sighed heavily behind her and Sango immediately knew he, too, was very worried. Only Shippo was not bothered as he sleep heavily just in front of Sango. He must be exhausted, to sleep when Kagome and Inuyasha were in some unknown danger.

"Perhaps," Miroku said after a silent pause, "We should be grateful that Kagome is skilled enough to move so far without being detected. I'm sure she is headed back to Inuyasha's forest. All we can do is keep an eye open and pray they make it on their own." His voice, however, betrayed him with a slight quiver.

There was another moment of silence. Sango closed her eyes briefly with a tired sigh.

~*~*~*~

Sango held her hiraikotsu in one hand, her stance ready at any moment to loose her weapon. However, just as Miroku was prevented from using his air void by the poisonous bees, Sango could not attack as she lacked a target.

She glanced back quickly at Kagome. She stood a few feet behind Sango with one hand raised to cover her mouth. The air was thick with dark magic, making it hard to breathe. Kagome's bow lay on the road perhaps sixty feet back. Naraku had been herding them like cattle, moving Kagome, his only real threat here, away from her weapon.

Sango looked over to Inuyasha, just as he drew Tetsusaiga slowly from its sheath. The transformed blade shimmered dangerously, and Sango recognized the look of concentration on the hanyou's face. He's going to us the Wound of the Winds, she thought. He can cut through Naraku's miasma with that.

Suddenly though, just as he raised the sword, a long tentacle shot out, almost faster than Sango could follow with her eye. Inuyasha, in mid-swing, attempted a futile dodge from his awkward stance as the tentacle snaked around his bare ankle.

"Damn it," he cursed so softly that Sango almost could not hear him. Then he crumpled silently and lay on the ground motionless.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed from behind her, and before Sango could do anything, the girl was running toward the still hanyou. A white aura shimmered around the miko, pushing Naraku's miasma back. When she reached Inuyasha, the tentacle still wrapped around his ankle hastily withdrew from her purifying presence.

"Kagome!" Sango heard Shippo yell from Miroku's shoulder. The small fox kit looked very frightened even to Sango so far away from him.

Kagome glanced down at Inuyasha, but Sango still did not see Inuyasha stir. Kagome looked up fiercely into the dark swirls of magic and yelled, "What did you do?"

The miasma seemed to thin enough that Sango could see the Naraku's silhouette. Without a second thought, she ran forward and used her weight to launch her massive weapon. Sango was experienced enough with Naraku not to be terribly surprised when the weapon snapped back off of his barrier harmlessly and landed several yards to her left.

"Don't be stupid, my dear Sango," he said with a smile that could be heard through his voice. "Tetsusaiga may be capable of cutting through my miasma, but your clumsy over-grown boomerang won't do it."

Sango gripped the hilt of her sword cautiously, waiting for his next move. His voice continued on, although now it was definitely directed towards Kagome.

"Try shaking him; it won't help. Once again, my dear Kikyou gave me a fabulous idea. Now that that annoying hanyou is sealed once more, I won't have to deal with him," Naraku said poisonously. He turned slowly. "I hope you don't mind if I leave it to some friends to entertain you."

~*~*~*~

Sango could only remember seeing such a large host of youkai on few other occasions, but she and Miroku had always been the ones backing up Inuyasha. This time the two of them had almost been overwhelmed. 

Now perhaps in retrospect, sending Kagome off with Inuyasha and only a sword to protect them had not been the best idea. However, at the time, when the youkai seemed to have divided their attention so evenly, all Sango could think was that they could not protect Inuyasha and Kagome and try to defeat the swarm around them.

~*~*~*~ 

"Take this," Sango said quickly shoving her sword into Kagome's belt. She quickly hefted their unconscious friend onto Kagome's back. "Now run! We'll keep them from following you as we are able, but go as fast as you can!"

~*~*~*~

That had been all the exterminator had been able to say to Kagome before she was interrupted by another attacking youkai. She had barely been able to glance her way to see that the girl was indeed escaping.

In the end, the entire thing had proved futile. She and Miroku had been so badly winded after a short period that they too had had to abandon the fight. Sango had barely had time to grab Tetsusaiga from where it had fallen. Now Kagome was even more vulnerable and it was Sango's fault. If they had all just escaped together, they might all be safe.

"Don't blame yourself," Miroku said from behind her. As usual, his ability to read people proved accurate. "If we had tried to run with them, we would have been slowed by Inuyasha, and perhaps we would not have made it. This way at least we were able to cover Kagome's escape."

"What if they're attacked though?" Sango said softly.

"Kagome is more resourceful than even she knows, I'm willing to bet," Miroku said with a smile. ''I'm sure we'll meet up with them back at Kaede's village."

Sango nodded and turned back to forest below, continuing to look for signs of her friends.

A/N: Hurray, another chapter! That didn't take too horribly long. Ok, it was a bit long. Let me know what you think of the story so far and if anything is unclear. Some things, of course, are supposed to be unclear at this point, but others, due to my crappy writing, are not supposed to be confusing. And don't think that this is going to be an Inuyasha-less story; he's definitely playing a more active role in future chapters. It'll be fun, just you wait. Thank you for reading my story!


	3. Home again

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters. And if I did, why would I be writing fanfiction?

Moving through the forest with ease, Miroku pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. The brass staff in his hand made virtually no sound despite the rings at its head. His past years of wandering had honed his woodsmen's skills considerably and he took advantage of that as he patrolled. 

Sango was probably still somewhere far south of the village on her own expedition to find any sign of Kagome or Inuyasha. So far it seemed the priest's search was completely fruitless. It had been almost four days since Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara had arrived at Kaede's village and there was still no sign of Kagome or the hanyou.

Originally, Miroku had thought that Kagome's miko powers would be able to wake Inuyasha as she had after he had been sealed the first time, but if that had been the case, surely they would have returned by now. He had probably been overly optimistic. Kaede, upon hearing what had happened, had immediately seen this as disastrous.

Suddenly, he spun around. _I could have sworn I heard something,_ he thought, puzzled. _No, it wasn't a sound, but a feeling. Miko power…_

"Lady Kagome!?" he yelled into the wood. _Please be her!_

"Miroku." The answer came softly from his left. He turned slowly. Kagome stood about ten yards away from him carrying an inert Inuyasha over her shoulders. She looked awful; strands of black hair were knotted around small twigs, her legs and arms were dirty, and her clothing was torn in several places. The hanyou looked little better.

Kagome swallowed thickly, dropping Inuyasha unceremoniously as she ran forward to hug the priest. Miroku was stunned for a moment, but quickly returned her hug and Kagome was so relieved that she barely even hit him when his hands wandered a bit too far south.

~*~*~*~

Kaede clucked her tongue quietly against the roof of her mouth as she examined Inuyasha's still form. It was as she had feared when Sango and Miroku had first told her their story. Naraku had not been lying when he said he had sealed Inuyasha again. Of course, they were fortunate that no one else had been seriously injured or none of them would have survived.

"Well?" Kagome said from the other side of the hut. She sat quietly waiting as Kaede finished her examination and when she did finally speak, her voice lacked the expected worry. Instead, she merely sounded tired.

Well, that was completely understandable. From what the priest had said, Kagome had been able to survive mainly by using her miko powers to mask her location. That in addition with her resolve to bring the hanyou back, that had made her near impossible to find.

"He is sealed, but Naraku's magic is vastly different than that of my sister," Kaede said slowly. "Breaking the seal will be much more difficult and I fear if we cannot do it soon, it will be permanent."

"Permanent?" Miroku whistled under his breath. "What can we do then?"

Kaede sighed. "I have some idea on how it can be broken, but I will need to talk to you first, Miroku to see if you believe it is feasible. For now though," she glanced at Kagome. "Rest and food are more pressing needs."

"If we are lacking in time," Kagome said, her voice regaining some of her fierceness, "then let's do what we can, now."

With a small smile, Kaede walked back to Inuyasha's cot. She knelt and pulled up the bottom of his left pant leg to reveal a crimson mark snaking around his ankle about two inches thick.  Right where Naraku's tentacle had grabbed him.  "This is the mark left on Inuyasha from Naraku's spell. As the spell settles into him, the mark will become smaller. When it is completely gone, then the spell will be irreversible. Although I did not see it when it was fresh, I believe it has not changed too dramatically in size. We still have at least a month, perhaps more. You've time to eat and sleep, my dear."

~*~*~*~

Sango sat with her back resting on Kirara's. The cat youkai slept in her larger form, curled up with Shippo, and Sango could feel the vibrations as she purred in her sleep. It was well past midnight when Miroku and Kaede finally immerged from her hut.

The youkai exterminator stood quickly as they approached. Miroku gave her a small smile, which she returned gratefully. _Things cannot be so bad then_, she thought thankfully.

"Where is Kagome?" Miroku asked as they approached.

"With Inuyasha," Sango replied quietly. The girl had slept away the afternoon and evening and almost an hour ago, Sango had seen her slip back into Kaede's hut. "Do you have a plan?"

Miroku nodded. "But there will be little we can do to help," he said and Sango heard the tinge of regret in his voice. "Come, we'll explain it all at once with you and Kagome." Sango nodded and followed them back.

As she walked into the small hut, Sango immediately noticed that Inuyasha's face had been cleaned of the dirt that had previously smudged it and his clothing had been meticulously straightened. _Poor Kagome,_ Sango thought suddenly. _This must be awful for her._

As they entered Kagome made to rise from were she was kneeling, but Kaede quickly gestured her back down as they all sat. Kagome watched her with expectant eyes.

"I've spoken with Miroku and we think we know how we may be able to wake Inuyasha, but it will involve great risk to you, Kagome," Kaede said with a serious undertone to her voice.

"I understand that, Kaede and it will never be an issue," Kagome replied solemnly. "What do I need to do?"

"It is most likely that Naraku bound a bit of his soul to trap Inuyasha's. You will have to find that piece and either purify it or push it out of Inuyasha," Kaede said.

"How?" Kagome asked perplexed. This seemed a bit more advanced than her powers had progressed.

"Well, it's kind of complicated," Miroku said slowly. "But the best way to explain it is that Lady Kaede and I will build a bridge between his soul and yours. Then you should be able to hunt down and expel Naraku's presence from within Inuyasha's dreams."

"What makes it so dangerous?" Kagome asked slowly.

"Well, first off, Naraku could still kill you in there. Secondly, if Inuyasha fails to recognize you, it is possible his soul will drive you out which, for all intensive purposes, will kill you." Miroku quickly added, "I don't think that's likely, though."

Kaede continued, "It's essential that you convince Inuyasha to help you because ultimately, he has control in his own mind. It's just unlikely that he knows that.  He probably does not even realize what has happened to him. You will have to make him understand what is happening.  I've no idea how his mind works so it will be up to you to figure things out what things are, ok?"

Kagome was silent for a moment. She looked up at them. "Well of course I'll do it."

A/N: Yeah! That only took me three weeks. Hm, sorry about that. I swear I'm not going to just abandon my fic though because it really annoys me when people do that. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, you all make me want to smile for the rest of my natural life (and into my unnatural one, too.) I just finished watching season three of Inuyasha which is rocking and a friend is lending me season four so Hurray! for friends! Let me know if you have any qualms with my story thus far. The main action will start next chappie!!

Also hurray for Halloween. Let me know what you're dressing up as if you're into that sort of thing. I'm just a random tropical person with a Hawaiian shirt, grass skirt, and a snorkel. There is a reason behind it all, but ultimately, it's not that interesting.


	4. Ego

Disclaimer: Not only am I not the Queen of Sri Lanka, I am not the owner of Inuyasha.  So don't sue me.

"Phew," Kagome hissed as she lowered the empty flask from her lips.  She grimaced.  Whatever Kaede had put in that concontion was strong stuff.  The old woman had told her it would help her fall into a deeper sleep than was normally possible, necessary for the spell to work correctly.  Already she could feel it taking affect.  As she glanced over to Miroku, her vision began to blur.

The monk was sitting cross-legged at Inuyasha's head chanting softly under his breath.  Sango gently pushed Kagome's shoulders down on to the mat she had been sitting on.  She gave the younger woman an encouraging smile.  "Good luck, Kagome."

Kagome tried to say something back or even smile in response but too quickly the world around her was dimming and her body felt incredibly heavy.

~*~*~*~

The first thought through Kagome's mind when she awoke was that the spell had not worked.  She sat up groggily from the cot she remembered laying on in Kaede's hut.  She stood slowly, puzzled as to why they had left her alone.  Even Inuyasha had been removed from the hut's floor.

Cautiously she lifted the door's covering and peered out into the darkness.  _That's funny, she thought.  __It should be daylight unless I've slept through the entire day.  No the spell DID work, she realized suddenly.  The forest before her was definitely not Inuyasha's forest and even if it were, it should not have surrounded the hut so._

She stepped out carefully.  "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Inuyasha's mind is dark," Kagome said to herself and the sound of her voice cheered her a bit.  The silence of the forest around her was thick and oppressive.  Breaking it seemed at once to make it more bearable.

"Inuyasha?" she called out hesitantly.  _This was his mind, so he should be here somewhere, right?  She took a few more steps out the door.  When she glanced behind her, Kagome noticed with surprise that the hut was gone, as though it had never been there at all.  With a small frown, she started walking again._

She had only gone a short distance when Kagome abruptly realized she had not gone anywhere.  Her legs moved but the trees around her were in exactly the same place.  "How did I not notice that immediately?" she asked herself quietly.  "Great, now what am I supposed to do?  How can I look for Inuyasha if I can't move around?"

There was noise from behind almost as if in response to her question.  Kagome spun around to see Inuyasha stepping lightly into her field of vision.  "Inuyasha!"

He gave no response, acting as though he had not heard her or that he could not see her although she stood in plain sight.  Kagome took a step towards him and breathed a sigh of relief when she did actually move.  But he still made no sign that she existed.  She looked at him closer and suddenly realized how different he looked.

He was younger, maybe thirteen.  His eyes lacked the hardness she saw in him regularly.  He stopped walking to look past her with an almost hunted gleam in his golden eyes.  Kagome turned around slowly.  On what had been empty ground up until a moment ago was now a slight raised burial mound.  _This is…a memory! _she realized suddenly.

She quickly stepped to the side as he moved forward to the grave.  He knelt slowly.   "Mother," he said softly as he placed one clawed hand on the ground before him.

Although Kagome had no idea how old the hanyou had been when his mother died, she guessed that in this memory, she had been gone for a while.  Although Inuyasha looked sad, his eyes held more resignation than mourning.

As she watched, he stood slowly.  "I'm sorry, but I would rather your final home be lost than be found by that bastard."  His voice was bitter and barely recognizable beneath his thick growl.  Kagome had only a moment to ponder what he meant by that before she saw him slowly and purposefully dig his claws into his arm.

"Inuyasha!" she said before remembering that he could not hear her.  He ignored her, predictably, as he leapt into the air above much of the forest.  With a yell of, "Blood Claws!" the trees around Kagome were violently ripped to shreds.  Kagome threw herself on the ground behind Inuyasha and covered her head as debris settled in the surrounding area.

Cautiously, Kagome lifted her head to survey the waste around her.  Except the forest around her had disappeared.  She felt a cold metal point at the back of her neck and she suddenly stiffened.

"You do not belong to these memories," said Inuyasha's familiar voice.  Kagome turned very slowly.  A human Inuyasha was standing above her holding the untransformed Tetsuseiga to her neck.  "Who are you?"

"Kagome!" she said harshly.  _Jeez, doesn't he know me? _ Suddenly she felt very angry that she was risking her life and going through all these pains for him when his subconscious didn't even recognize her.

He rolled his eyes.  "You look very much like her, but she would have no reason to invade my mind.  Who are you?"

"I _am_ Kagome!" she yelled.  Shoving Tetsuseiga away from her throat she stood and glared at him.  His brown eyes regarded her without their usual expressiveness.  Slowly recognition set in and he sheathed his sword.

"Then why are you here?" he asked flatly.

Kagome watched him warily.  She was not exactly sure how anyone would react in this sort of situation, but it seemed as though Inuyasha, in particular, would act angry.  Yet here he stood, perfectly calm.  Just from the tone of his voice, one might think he was talking about the weather (except Inuyasha had a habit of sounding angry about things as neutral as weather anyway).

"You were sealed by Naraku," she said slowly, noting carefully his expression.  "Miroku and Kaede helped me get here in order to break the seal."

He frowned slightly, the first real sign of emotion she had gotten from him.  "I cannot permit you to move freely about in my mind."

"Uh," she stuttered, unsure exactly what she should say.  "But I'll need you to come with me, to help break the seal."

"No, thanks."

Kagome looked at him incredulously.  "What is that supposed to mean?"

He began to turn away from her slowly.  "I'm not interested."

A/N:  Ok, I know that probably wasn't the best place to leave it off, but if I kept going, it would have been a really long chapter.  That also means it would have been a lot longer before I got this out.  So oh well!  Thanks to everyone who left me reviews!  I love you all!  Yeah, I definitely wrote most of this chapter when I should have been writing my two-page Spanish paper.  Ah procrastination…

Oh yeah, there is definitely a reason for why Inuyasha is acting the way he is.  Trust me, it's not just a random whim.  The memory will also be explained, but it doesn't have a lot of importance.  Ok, lata'.


	5. Enter the superego

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

"You're not interested!?" Kagome sputtered. _Why is he acting like this, _she thought frantically. _Normally he jumps at any chance to fight Naraku on any scale. _"What is that supposed to mean!?"

"There is nothing to gain from it. Even if I am sealed," he explained in a flat voice, "there is no threat to me here. As soon as I am unsealed, I'll immediately have to fight for survival again."

Kagome gawked at him. There was a long moment when they just stared at each other. Kagome snapped her mouth shut. "You're not Inuyasha," she stated firmly as she raised her chin. "Either that, or you're acting under some influence, but there is definitely something not right with you."

He shrugged. "Think what you wish."

__

It's like he's being completely objective to the point of absurdity, which is absurd since he is never objective! Kagome thought. That idea seemed to snag something in the back of her mind, something she had learned in one of her short visits back to school. …something about divisions of the mind.

"Inuyasha?" she asked quietly. "Are there other parts of you in here?"

"Of course," he answered easily.

__

Id, ego, and superego, she thought with a roll of her eyes. _Damn Freud. If we can find the others though, maybe they can be put together somehow._ "Can we see them?" Kagome asked.

"Why?" he asked tilting his head slightly to one side so that his dark hair slipped over his shoulders. Suddenly the absurdity of having to talk Inuyasha into a risky situation hit her, and Kagome had to suppress a small laugh. Very small. The gravity of the situation had not left her. If they could not defeat Naraku here before the mark disappeared, then both she and Inuyasha would be trapped forever.

The other problem was she had no idea how long ago she had fallen asleep. "One more warning, Kagome," Kaede had said to her before she had swallowed the sleeping brew. "We've no idea how time may run within the mind. A day may seem like only seconds there, or vise versa. Move quickly."

"Er," Kagome said slipping out of her train of thought. If this was Inuyasha's ego, then the best way to convince him was with logic, backwards as that may seem. "It just seems logical," she started slowly, "that if you're going to be spending…time…here, that you should know who else is here." Kagome peeked through her bangs to see his expression. 

He seemed to think about it for a moment. "You think they could be a threat?" he asked earnestly.

Kagome stopped herself from rolling her eyes. He may be being logical but she doubted he was being very intelligent. Why would different parts of him be threats to each other? Abruptly, the thought of self-destructive behaviors came to mind, and Kagome grudgingly accepted that perhaps his point might be valid. Who knows what the rules are here, anyway?

"We won't know till we go see them," she said hopefully.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering. "Ok," he said without moving.

"How do we find them?" Kagome ventured after yet another pause. Looking around, she saw that they were standing in a large sunlit field although no sun shone in the clear blue sky. The light seemed completely indirect here. There were no shadows.

"This way," Inuyasha said holding his hand out to her. She took it and in unison the two stepped forward. Suddenly, their surroundings swirled around them, and they were seamlessly placed in the center of a small village. People moved strangely silent along the roads, their faces oddly obscured so that Kagome could not focus on any of them.

"Why do they look like that?" Kagome asked. 

Inuyasha looked at her blankly for a moment. "This is a memory," he stated simply.

"So you don't remember what their faces look like?"

He shook his head, his eyes remaining forward. Kagome watched him for a moment before she too began to search the memory around them with her eyes. Suddenly from amid the many faceless people passing, a group of children ran into view. They were immediately distinct in the memory. Each small face could clearly be seen. There were three of them, a tiny Inuyasha smiling in the middle of them. 

At first Kagome thought that he was part of the memory like the Inuyasha of the previous memory, but then he looked up and smiled at her. Her lips parted slightly in surprise as he jogged over to them with a kind of carefree skip that reminded her sharply of Shippo.

With a smile Kagome scooped up the small Inuyasha. She felt sure he would not appreciate it but he was too cute like this!

"Keh!" the human Inuyasha snorted to her right. "We can look for the other then. He's of no threat."

"Kagome! I'm so happy you are here!" the tiny Inuyasha said with a grin. 

Ok, Kagome thought, _this is just weird. I've got one Inuyasha that needs everything to stay logical and I've got one that's openly admitting he's glad I'm around. I guess we really aren't just the sum of our parts. _"Uh, Inuyasha," she said rather disconcertedly to the child. "I'm here because Naraku has sealed you again. If you're to wake, we must find and defeat him here as quickly as possible."

"Then we'd better hurry," he replied in a distinctly unchildlike manner. "Without me, the others won't be able to defend themselves against anything bigger than a spider demon."

At this statement, Kagome had to stifle a laugh. Inuyasha was Inuyasha, no doubts about it. From his perch in her arms, the small hanyou leapt toward the scowling human Inuyasha and roughly caught on to the long locks of black hair that framed his face.

"Yowch!" he practically yelped. "Get offerme!" he growled and quickly tried to grab the squirming child. As soon as their skin touched however there was a quick flash of gold light. Instinctively, Kagome reached up and covered her eyes.

When she looked again, only one Inuyasha stood beside her. This one was neither hanyou nor human but a mix of the two. His hair was still black but a pair of white ears stuck through it and his eyes were golden with flecks of brown.

They looked at each other for a moment before Kagome suddenly realized that the town setting around them had disappeared as well. Now they were surrounded by a dense jungle.

"Come on," Inuyasha said as he started to walk down a small trail. His voice had regained some of his normal aggressiveness. "He not going to come to us, you know!" he said as if she knew what he was talking about.

"Er," Kagome mumbled as she moved to follow him. "What's that?"

"You wanted to find the other one, right?" he asked irritably. "Well, he's not exactly people friendly, so we go to him."

"Oh," Kagome said as she hurried after him. Although Inuyasha was walking, she was having a bad time keeping up with him just due to the uneven terrain. "Uh, Inuyasha," she said stepping over a particularly large root.

"Yeah?"

"Back there, at the village," she said. "Who were those children? If you remembered their faces, they must have meant something to you, right?"

"My friends when I was young," he stated without hesitation or emotion.

"But," Kagome started as she stumbled over another root.

"But I'm not supposed to have human friends?" he interrupted with a growl. "Listen, my life hasn't been a walk in the park, but that doesn't mean I'm too pathetic to have ever had friends." He continued to stalk down the rough track without looking back.

They walked in awkward silence for a few moments until Inuyasha stopped suddenly. Kagome, who had been keeping her eyes glued strictly to the terrain beneath her feet, ran straight into his back and fell to her back. She looked up at him curiously.

Kagome opened her mouth to question him but he quickly silenced her with a raised hand. He glanced down at her. "I can smell him," he said before his gaze returned to the jungle around them.

A/N: Oh my god! I'm so sorry this took so so frickin' long! There is really no excuse for that hiatus. Well, there was a small excuse but it only runs for about a week…and that ended about a month ago. Well to be perfectly honest, I'm not really enjoying this story. Oh well. We'll see where it goes.


	6. The search begins

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.  (I wonder how necessary this disclaimer is?  I mean, do lawyers patrol the fanfiction highways looking for people who don't put on up?  Seems kind of silly to me.  And yet I still do it…)

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder with a look of intense concentration which Kagome did not wish to interrupt.  This time she was afraid.  The other two parts of the hanyou that Kagome had already met, ego and super ego, were obviously the nicer parts of him.  Yet she knew him to have a much more aggressive and wild side.  And from what she remembered from her psychology class, the last division of a person, the id, was concerned only with survival.

As she climbed back to her feet, Kagome searched their surroundings with her eyes and ears, but she could not detect anything.  She turned back to Inuyasha to ask how sure he was but just as she did there was a soft noise from behind her and the next second an arm was around her neck.

"Glelp," was all she could manage to squeak out with the crushing pressure around her windpipe.  Kagome raised her arms in an attempt to pry the arm away.  She turned her head as much as she could to see without much surprise the last piece of Inuyasha.

Red eyes, violet streaks down his cheeks, and a wicked grin immediately made Kagome think of the few frightening times when Inuyasha had been overtaken by his demon blood.  Kagome felt her own blood run cold.

Panicked, Kagome looked desperately to the other Inuyasha for help.  He turned and regarded them for a second and she could both hear and feel the deep rumble of a growl from the Inuyasha behind her.  Just as the world around her seemed to dim, the black haired hanyou reached over calmly and touched the arm trapping preventing Kagome from breathing.

Kagome flinched and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the arm and body behind her evaporate, and she collapsed to her knees.  Now on all fours, she took a shuttering breath, coughed, and panted as her surroundings quickly came back into focus.

"Kagome?"  Inuyasha grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her easily to her feet.  "You ok?"

The girl looked at him slightly dazed for a moment.  He appeared to be the Inuyasha she knew, confused golden eyes looking back at her.  Then in a second Kagome brought herself fully back to the present moment.  "Baka!" she yelled at him as slapped him in the head with a resounding smack that echoed around them.  

Laying his ears back, Inuyasha yelled, "Ow!  What was that for, you crazy bitch?"  But Kagome had already begun stalking away from him.  He stood rubbing his cheek for confused moment before rushing after her.  "Hey!  Answer me!"

He immediately saw this was not the right thing to have said as Kagome rounded on him, her eyes narrowed furiously.  "Do you think we have time for this?" she practically screamed at him.  "Do you think we have time to waltz around in your warped head putting you back together until, until…" she sputtered, her mind drawing a blank.  "Ugh!  If we don't find Naraku soon, we'll both be stuck here forever!  Is that what you want?!"

Inuyasha huffed.  He was not really sure why they were yelling at each other but that had never stopped him in the past.  "Like I want to be stuck for eternity with you," he growled back.  Again he saw too late that this was not the thing to say as her eyes immediately began to shine with tears.

"Oh that's just fine, Inuyasha!" she yelled angrily as tears slid down her cheeks.  "Absolutely peachy, isn't it?  I spend forever dragging your useless lump through the forest and risk my life to wake you up and you can't even admit that I might be a nice person to spend all of eternity with!" she yelled at the now cowed hanyou.  "Well, you know what?  Next time you can just get an alarm clock!"  She turned on her heel and began stalking down the trail again.

"Kagome!" he called as he followed her.  "Kagome, wait!  Would you for just a second?"  She ignored him.  "Please stop.  You know I said I'd protect you, which means I have to get you out of my head," he said in what he felt was his most reasonable tone.

She stopped and turned back to him, tear stain streaking down her cheeks.  Inuyasha frowned.  He hated it when she cried because of him.  She of all people should know by now that he was an idiot and had no wish to hurt her; he just could not understand her, was all.

She considered him for a moment, then said, "Alright."  Quickly wiping the tear streaks from her cheeks, she hesitated before asking, "Where do we look for him?"

Slightly caught off guard by her quick change, Inuyasha shrugged.  "How much time do we have left, anyway?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Kagome said shaking her head.  "Kaede said time probably runs differently in dreams than in reality.  It feels like I've been here a few hours by now, but that could mean anything from a few seconds to we're already out of time."

"Feh," Inuyasha snorted in annoyance.  "It'd be nice if we knew what the rules are here."

"You seemed like you were doing just fine, before," Kagome stated with equal annoyance, mainly because she was still angry with the hanyou.

Inuyasha looked up and scratched his head.  "Did I?  Did I tell you how I was doing it?"

Kagome felt her face fall.  "You mean you don't know?"  She sighed in frustration.  "I suppose we'll have eternity to figure it out, then."

"Like hell," Inuyasha growled.  "I am _not going to let Naraku wander around my head like it's a fucking walk in the park.  Come on."  He grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.  There was the now familiar jolt of suddenly and seamlessly being in a completely different environment.  Kagome looked around and recognized Kaede's village._

"Was this where you meant to go?" Kagome asked incredulously.  Somehow it seemed unlikely that Naraku would be lurking in one of the neatly thatched huts.

"Huh," Inuyasha muttered noncommittally as he dropped her hand.  "Not…exactly, but I suppose it's a good start.  From here, we can go to the Goshinboku."

"Why there?"

"That's where I was sealed before," Inuyasha said with a shrug.  "You have a better idea?"

When she shook her head, Inuyasha crouched down.  "Climb on so we can get there sometime this century."

With a roll of her eyes, Kagome climbed on his back and gripped his shoulders.  She felt his muscles below her tense in preparation for the run and suddenly they loosed, taking one giant stride before they hit something that felt like a brick wall.

With a strangled and undignified yelp, Inuyasha awkwardly fell backwards on Kagome.  He rolled off her as Kagome saw stars.  "What was that?" he groaned, flopping back on the ground.

Kagome rubbed her head and muttered, "Felt like a freight train."  She looked up and was only mildly surprised to see that they were no longer in the village but sprawled on the ground before the Goshinboku.  And that was in fact what they had run head first into.

"Inuyasha?"

"Mpf?" he groaned still laying on his back.

"We're here," she said excitedly.  "And I think I understand how you can move from one place to another."  She stood and leaned over him.  He opened his eyes skeptically.

"Oh yeah, Kagome?" he asked grumpily.  "How's that?"

"Well," she said offering him her hand.  He took it and was pulled onto his feet.  He frowned as he looked around.  "I think all you have to do is concentrate on where you want to go and take a step forward.  Probably with much less momentum would be safer, as well."

"That'll make things easy," he thought aloud.  "We'll be able to search a lot of places in only a couple seconds."

"Ok, but he doesn't seem to be here," Kagome said disappointed.  "I think I'll be able to sense him when we get close and I don't feel anything here."

Inuyasha grabbed her hand again.  "How about Sango's village?"

Within about thirty seconds they had visited the wrecked exterminator village, the Bone-eater's well, the cave were the Shikon no Tama originated, as well as several forest glens where they had previously met and fought Naraku.  Also within thirty seconds, Kagome felt thoroughly disheartened.

"I'm running out of ideas," Inuyasha admitted quietly as they stared around the dark and empty courtyard of Naraku's castle.  Kagome sighed and sank wearily to her knees.  It may have felt like she had only been here a few hours but she was exhausted.  And grudgingly she had to admit that this seemed like an indication that time was moving faster in reality than here.

Then suddenly it hit her.  "Inuyasha, we are such idiots!" she said happily as she got to her feet.  "We haven't looked in the one place where we should have started!"

"Where's that?" he asked eyeing her skeptically. 

"Onigumo's cave."

A/N: Hurray!  Aren't' you happy that wasn't another month in the coming?  Maybe all I needed was a break because it seems to be coming much easier now.  Really, two days is not a bad turn over time at all.  I'm so happy I can finally write Inuyasha!  He's so fun.  Let me know how I did and thanks for all the reviews I've gotten so far.

Also, I'm not sure about the God Tree's spelling, but I think that's close.  If you know please tell me how to spell it correctly.


	7. Confrontation

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters (contrary to popular belief).

"I'm going alone," Inuyasha said resolutely. Kagome could tell by the set of his jaw that he was not going to give in easily. He crossed his arms and looked down at her as if daring her to defy him.

__

I was never one to let down a dare, she thought wryly. "Oh no you're not," she said standing to grab on to his arm just in case he tried to leave her behind without an argument. "Kaede said you would probably need me to purify him."

"Yeah," he said trying to shake her hand from his arm. "Probably. I'm not putting you in danger for a 'probably.' Any ways, that old bat is always making things out to be worse than they are."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Kagome groaned and hung onto his arm firmly. "We don't even know if he's there yet. And you know I'm not going to give this up." She hoped she had the same immovable look that he had on his face. She was touched at his concern but also annoyed by it. He always did this. Inuyasha thought he could protect her by simply removing her presence from the battlefield.

He glared at her for a moment and Kagome was sure his resolve was waning. He frowned and then said, "Fine, but you're to leave this to me. Understand?"

Kagome raised her eyes to the sky and said loudly, "I promise not to jump Naraku in the effort to steal the glory that I had been up until this point planning. Happy?" she asked giving him a look with raised eye brows.

"Damn it, Kagome," Inuyasha growled. "You should be taking this seriously. This is dangerous."

"I am taking it seriously and we are running out of time, so let's just go," she replied stubbornly. They glared at each other for a moment before Inuyasha finally looked away with a disgusted "Feh."

He gripped her hand quickly and took a step forward. Their surroundings faded and bled into the familiar surrounding landscape of Kaede's village. The transition between one place and another had been less smooth this time, less instant. Inuyasha looked down at her, still gripping her hand.

"Is he here?" he asked although from the look in his eyes, Kagome was fairly certain he knew. He could probably tell better than her, as Kagome could only feel emptiness. Not like before. Before she had been able to sense Inuyasha's presence everywhere and now she felt nothing.

"Must be," she said, hesitantly. Her mouth had gone dry. She had faced Naraku before but never with this pure terror gnawing at her. A look at the hanyou's face told her he, too, was frightened. His hand tightened over hers.

Just as in a dream, something otherwise ridiculous became terrifying, something truly scary was just that much worse. Inuyasha took a step forward and Kagome suddenly felt her courage bolster. They would make it through this like they had so many other obstacles.

Together they crossed the remaining field land before the cave. At every step forward, the sky seemed to grow darker until it was as dark as night and the wind whipped around them brutally. Although it seemed like an eternity, they finally stepped into the dark recess of the cave.

Here, Kagome was almost overwhelmed by the sense of evil, as if it was in the air and she almost gagged on it. The gloom of the cave was complete and it was difficult to see anything at all.

"Come out, you stinking rat!" Inuyasha yelled suddenly. His voice reverberated around them and grew louder. Kagome looked around waiting for some sort of response as Inuyasha's voice reverberated around them.

The echoing stopped suddenly and without warning and was replaced with silence.

"Why should I come out?" came a soft voice from somewhere in the shadows. "You are quickly running out of time. No, I think I'll stay safe where I am and let you remain sealed forever."

Kagome dropped Inuyahsa's hand suddenly as she stepped forward with an angry scowl on her face.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha hissed at her as he grabbed her shoulder. She shrugged him off in her building anger.

"You haven't got any idea how much time we have, do you? How could you? You've been here the same as us!" she yelled into the darkness. "And I know you can't run from here."

"You do?" Inuyasha asked surprised and sounding skeptical.

"If you could leave this cave, you would have by now," she stated confidently. "And don't think you can hide, because give me time, and I'll sniff you out of whatever den you've holed up in." She took another step forward into the gloom.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha hissed again, this time more insistently. "You promised," he sputtered at a loss to say any more. He wanted to step forward but something held him motionless where he stood.

"Do you really think you can beat me here?" the voice answered with a hint of amusement. "Every moment here, I become stronger and Inuyasha becomes weaker."

"If that's true then you'd face him rather than hiding in the shadows!" Kagome yelled in response as she stepped further again. "You're frightened. You know if you fight you won't win, so you are just going to hide and hope you're not found."

There was silence for a moment. The cave around them suddenly shuttered and Kagome fell to her hands and knees. Inuyasha bounded forward, suddenly released from whatever had held him back. "Kagome!"

"I'm fine," she asserted as he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Get Naraku!"

"Right," he growled as he stood. Tetsuseiga slid easily out of its sheath as Inuyasha turned to face the darkness. His eyes could not pierce the gloom but his nose was still good. He took a deep breath and began to differentiate the smells of damp and mold from that of Naraku. Even though he knew none of them had physical presence here, some how it just seemed right that he would be able to smell him.

He sniffed again, changed direction, and took another step forward. He turned again and smirked. "Ah, so there you are."

A/N: Hey everybody! I love all the feed back I'm getting from you guys; you're fantastic. This fic is drawing quickly to a close which is good, since I'm flying back to school tomorrow (that is unless the weather gods decide to snow me in). Thanks for reading and please drop me a review.


	8. Oh, it's you again

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and woe to those who think I do.

Kagome remained kneeling on the cave floor, Inuyasha standing several yards from her and deeper in the oppressive gloom. What little light there was in the cave seemed to both cling to and radiate from the silver-haired hanyou and the dangerous sword he held a casual ease. 

Slowly the darkness of the cave around them seemed to lessen until if Kagome strained her eyes, she could make out the dim outline of a figure wrapped in white baboon skin. Inuyasha remained still. Although he doubted Naraku would make the first move since time was on his side, he still wanted to be cautious. He would not allow Kagome to be trapped here.

Kagome had said Naraku could not or would not leave the cave and he instinctually trusted her miko senses. Perhaps then if he could be forced toward the mouth of the cave he would be weaker or in some way restricted.

Cautiously he stepped to the side, making to circle his enemy.

Naraku laughed once. "Do you think this is an ordinary fight?" he asked with a slightly amused lilt to his voice. "Your single-mindedness astounds me even now. I have powers here over you, which your hanyou mind could not possibly comprehend."

__

You're being baited, part of him said, but another growled aloud and he charged forward before thinking about what he was doing. Suddenly he felt as though he were being forcefully torn from the cave and thrown down in some other place. His head contacted with something and he closed his eyes as every thing went black.

~*~*~*~

When he opened his eyes, Inuyasha found that he was lying on his back staring up at a vast blue sky, a bed of grass beneath him. Feeling disoriented, he sat up quickly and a lock of black hair fell across his face. He stared at it, unable to comprehend what was happening. _I'm human?_ he thought vaguely.

"Inuyasha."

At the sound of her voice, he whipped his head around. Kikyo stood with her casually regal composure a few yards away from him. Inuyasha stared in surprise.

"Kikyo." It was her. Not the empty her he had last seen, but the real, living, breathing, flesh and blood woman he had known and loved fifty years ago. "What…" he paused unsure of what he felt and what was happening to him.

"The power of the Shikon no Tama has made you human," she said watching him carefully. "Now we can live the life we both wish for."

He stood and for a moment all he could think of was the need to hold her, to know that she was real. They stood in an embrace, not moving. _This is right,_ he thought with sigh. _This is the way things were supposed to be._ His mind suddenly ground to a halt. He pushed her away.

Kikyo looked up at him with hurt and confusion in her eyes. "What is it?

"This is the way things were supposed to be." His voice cracked and sounded strange in his own ears. Kikyo looked at him strangely, as if he were talking nonsense. "Not the way things are," he explained angrily. "The way they were supposed to turn out. But this isn't real. You killed me. And you died thinking I killed you. That woman is gone forever."

The priestess frowned softly. "You must have had nightmares as the Jewel changed you. But that is over now and we are together." She stepped forward to embrace him again but he stepped back.

"No," he said resolutely.

"You don't want me." She said it suddenly and her face hardened. Inuyasha felt like that look tore his heart to pieces. He did not want to hurt her. True, he had accepted her as dead, but he had hurt her so much already; it killed him to do more.

"No," he repeated. "This isn't real."

"You damned hanyou!" she yelled in a decidedly unKikyo fashion.

"No," he covered his ears. The bright day now became dark as Kikyo's tear streamed face watched him mournfully. She continued to yell, her voice becoming a continuous screech. "NO!" he yelled but his voice was lost in her wail.

With a grunt, Inuyasha slammed his eyes shut, whispering, "No, no, no…." over and over again although he could not hear himself. 

"…bow…you…now." He could barely hear the voice but he immediately recognized it.

"Kagome…" he whispered. A bow. She needs a bow and arrows. With his eyes shut he could picture them perfectly. If only she had them. A bow and a quiver of arrows.

Suddenly the shrieking stopped and Inuyasha was once again in the cave. He whipped his head around to see Kagome standing where she had been before holding a bow as if she had just shot off an arrow.

He shook his head to clear away his sluggish mind and with a growl turned back to Naraku.

A/N: Short, yes, late, yes, bad, I don't want to venture a guess. This is what I shall officially declare my bad-attempt-at-angst chapter. Sorry. I wanted to draw out this fight some more and this is what I came up with. Good, bad, let me know because it will definitely affect what happens in the next chapter. So far I'm thinking of two different courses for the fic. 


	9. Mission: Eliminate Naraku

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of it's characters.

The moment Inuyasha charged forward, Kagome felt a sudden heaviness in the pit of her stomach. As usual, he had gone forward, quickly forgetting any strategy he had entertained for even a second. With a yell, Kagome was on her feet, but it was already too late.

The hanyou stopped short, abruptly. His head hung so that she could not see his face and Tetsuseiga lowered slowly to the ground.

"Inuyasha!" There was no response. He stood motionless. The dim outline of Naraku seemed to become hazier. "Damn it," she yelled as tears of frustration came to her eyes. "If I had a bow…I could help you if I had a bow, now!" she screamed at him although she knew he would not hear her.

Suddenly, he half turned toward her although his face was still obscured. He raised his left hand with agonizing slowness. On instinct, she looked down. A bow and a quiver of green feathered arrows with small metal tips sat not a yard away from her.

Without another thought, Kagome dove for them, scraping her knees painfully in the process. She had drawn this weapon so many times before that now her hands moved without direction from her mind. Within seconds, she had aimed and shot off an arrow at the barely visible outline of Naraku. The arrow shone as it streaked toward him, but stopped as though it had hit a brick wall.

However, Inuyasha was now looking at her with a slightly bemused look in his eyes. He shook his head slowly and with a growl, turned back to Naraku. With deliberate confidence he sheathed his sword. Kagome watched in shock. "What on earth…" she mumbled softly.

"I don't accept you here," Inuyasha said in an almost even voice that covered his passion. Kagome had only heard it once or twice before and it chilled her blood to hear it now. The atmosphere was now so tense that the very air seemed discontent to stay still and so it whirled around Inuyasha.

"You have no right to the things here." He walked slowly forward. "You have no right to play with my memories and to warp my feelings." The cave grew lighter until only a small bit of shadow still clung to Naraku feebly.

"I will keep…" Naraku started.

"No." Inuyasha's voice cut through the almost slimy tone of the demon's voice. He continued to advance on him. "I will not stand your presence here any longer." Kagome shivered as the wind whipped around her.

With ever step Inuyasha took, Naraku seemed to shrink. Or maybe Inuyasha was growing. She could not tell. The light around them was blinding but still very tangibly part of Inuyasha.

"I will not be defeated so easily," Naraku rasp, now visibly weaker that a few moments before. He darted around Inuyasha with surprising speed toward where Kagome stood.

"No," Inuyasha said this time less evenly as he turned. He drew Tetsuseiga, quickly slashing across Naraku's path. The demon veered to his left and skillfully dodged an arrow shot by Kagome.

Kagome snorted in annoyance as she drew another arrow and sighted along its length. Moving almost faster than her eyes could follow, the two attacked mercilessly, sparing little energy for defense. It made it impossible for Kagome to keep the white baboon pelt in her sights for more than half a second.

Suddenly, one of Inuyasha's cuts made contact with his opponent, and Naraku was thrown to the opposite wall. He was still for a moment, before using the wall behind him to push his body upright. With a roar, Inuyasha charged with his sword drawn.

Then Naraku moved unexpectedly. He dashed forward, straight into Inuyasha's charge. Off balance and unable to compensate, he made a clumsy swing, which Naraku dodged under and came up, pushing his shoulder into Inuyasha's gut. 

With a surprised yelp, Inuyasha fell backwards to the cave floor and Naraku pounced on him, pinning the hanyou down. He grunted as the demon pushed him down.

Immediately Kagome recognized her chance and without hesitation, let an arrow fly straight into Naraku's exposed side. He howled in surprise and pain as Inuyasha gave him a quick kick in the gut, which sent him flying to the wall again.

Inuyasha was up in a flash and quickly delivered one final slash through Naraku's torso. There was a sound like a balloon deflating and Naraku's severed body slowly turned to black smoke and dissipated. A brief moment of silence followed and Inuyasha slowly sank to his knees panting heavily.

Kagome dropped the bow she still held. She walked up to him quietly and put a hand on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a few more minutes until Inuyasha had finally recovered fully. He stood and looked Kagome in the eye.

She looked away first. "Are we trapped here then?" she asked quietly, looking at her feet. Inuyasha grabbed her quickly and the ferocity of the embrace gave her his answer.

Kagome cried on his shoulder, her breath coming out in harsh sobs. Her mother, brother, and Grandfather, she'd never see them again. Or Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kaede. She gripped the fabric of his haori. They stood like that until she was too exhausted to stand. Inuyasha picked her up with unexpected tenderness and carried her to a place where his back was against something. Kagome fell asleep with her head against his chest and his arms wrapped around her.

A/N: Ahhhh!!! Mush!!! I hate mush. Well, that's not true, but I get the feeling when I write mush it's very trite and cheesy but oh well. One more chappie, that's all. Thanks for all the feed back; you guys rock my socks.


	10. We're in the real world now

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters, so suing is sure to be fruitless.

Sango panted as sweat streaked down her face. She held her formidable weapon easily at her back and ready for another toss, but the fallen pig demon did not move again. With a small sigh of relief, the exterminator pulled the release on her mask, allowing her to breathe the fresh air.

Lately, demon attacks had gotten, not only more frequent, but more severe. Just two days ago, Miroku had had to take care of an entire family of small groundhog-like demons, which under normal circumstances were shy creatures. Sango smiled fondly at the thought of the monk. He really wasn't as irritating as she sometimes made him out to be. Then again, maybe the fact that she barely saw him anymore had something to do with the change of view.

Sango took a deep breath before calling Kirara back to her and soon the two were on their way back to Kaede's village. Without the demon cat's aid, defending the local area would have been near impossible. Even Miroku had been forced to go by horseback, something he had seemed unusually loath to do, from village to village to prevent running himself ragged. Sango silently suspected he worried about falling, but she did not bring it up out of respect for his pride.

It was dark by the time they finally returned. Actually, considering how clear the sky was, it was unusually dark, due to the new moon. Sango frowned slightly at the dim outline around the black sphere. Kagome had told her one night as they listened to Inuyasha's grumbling about being human that the outline was caused by light from the earth. Looking at the dark ground beneath her, it was hard for Sango to believe.

She missed her friends. Although she tried to see them everyday, it was hard knowing that they were somewhere where her skills could not help them or that they might be struggling and suffering without her knowledge. Sango hated that impotent feeling.

Sango changed into her kimono quickly before slipping into the hut where both Inuyasha and Kagome lay. Except when she looked inside, only Kagome was still on her cot with Kaede kneeling at her side.

"What's happened?" Sango asked tensely.

Just as Kaede opened her mouth to reply, Inuyasha entered the room from the back. Sango dropped her jaw in surprise before launching herself at him and embracing him.

"Hey," Inuyasha huffed indignantly. Sango grinned and released him. He pushed his long black hair out of his eyes as he flopped down on the floor, propping himself up on one elbow. "I would have to wake up just in time for the new moon," he grumbled.

Sango knelt across the room from him. "What about Kagome?" she asked Kaede.

Kaede smiled softly as she looked down at the girl. "She should be coming around soon." She paused then looked meaningfully at Sango. "Why don't we go get something to eat?"

With a slight hesitation of disappointment, Sango nodded and the two women left Inuyasha alone with the still sleeping Kagome. He stood and walked over to where she was lying. Kagome looked so peaceful with her eyes closed and her mouth just slightly open.

Inuyasha knelt beside her carefully and lifted his hand. He paused a moment before putting his hand on her cheek. Her skin felt soft beneath his callused hand. She stirred slightly at his touch and leaned into his hand, causing a slight blush along his cheeks.

He pulled his hand away and her dark eyes fluttered open as she smiled groggily at him. She stretched as a yawn escaped her mouth.

"We're out," the hanyou said quietly.

"Out?" Kagome looked at him dumbly for a minute then sat up and looked around the room. "How do you know?" she asked after a moment, remembering her first experience in Inuyasha's mind.

He shrugged as he stood up. "It just feels like we are."

__

Yes, she thought. _It does just seem as though we _must_ be back_. She looked up at Inuyasha again. "Why are you human then?"

He frowned and turned away from her. "Feh, new moon," he snorted rather disgustedly.

There was silence for a moment before Kagome burst out laughing. The sudden easing of tension, the knowledge that this ordeal was over, and Inuyasha's snorted response were too much for her to keep in any longer.

The look on Inuyasha's face at her outburst, somewhere between confusion and indignation, just made her laugh all the harder. Kagome launched herself still laughing toward him, catching him in a ferocious hug and knocking both of them to the floor.

"Kagome!" Shippo darted into the room followed by Miroku, Sango, and Kaede. Shippo quickly latched himself on to Kagome and began babbling furiously about everything that had happened since she had fallen asleep.

Within five minutes, Inuyasha was grumbling again, Shippo was still talking incessantly, and Miroku had been slapped. _Boy, _Kagome thought. _ Things sure get back to normal quickly._

A/N: Hurrah, the end!!! Everyone jump and clap for joy; it took me for frickin' ever. Sorry 'bout that… Let me know what you think. In grand Mockingbird style, the end is less than fantastic but I think it's one of my better ones. Thanks for everyone's support through this story and for your patience.


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